Laura and Maja

Woofers 41 and 42 March 10 to 29, 2009

Laura and Maja both from Hamburg, Germany were only planning on staying with us for a week. In the end they stayed for three weeks and were so helpful to us.
Although we don't usually have enough for willing workers in March, we did have many outstanding domestic chores that needing doing. So when Laura and Maja asked to woof here, I made it clear that many of the jobs were catching up on winter cleaning. They had no problem with this and were very willing helpers once they arrived.
They helped in the lodge, around the house and at the barn. They cleaned the tack room and team harnesses, peeled some logs for the new ski cabin, washed a lot of windows, beeswaxed counter tops, painted some new shelving and kept the kitchen spotless.
As you can see from their slide show, they had fun on top of helping us. They took the community bus to Radium and soaked in the hot springs for 3 hours, tried x country skiing and snowshoeing, helped with a sleigh ride, snowmachined to Susan Lake for ice fishing, where we caught and ate our limit, made the margaritas for our Fiesta and shared our company over meals, music and movies.
After 3 weeks I drove them to Banff, and on the way we visited Emerald Lake and Lake Louis.
I had to say a quick Good Bye to make saying so long, easy. After 3 weeks Loren and I we really miss having these to positive youth here. We know there paths will always be bright.

Holiday Greetings and Thank YOU

As I settle in, to do Holiday Greetings, the snow is falling and we already have about 30 cm of snow on the ground. It is definitely feeling like it’s time to slow down, brush the snow off of the sleigh and harness the horses for sleigh rides. What’s new here is Golden? Last night I attended the first orchestra concert ever performed in Golden. Golden is growing up.
Linnaéa is nursing here in Golden and also taking some shifts in Invermere. This summer she worked in Kelowna while taking a course she needs to be a registered nurse. But she isn’t ready to go back to school full time yet. And we are enjoying having her close by.
Andrew is at the Vancouver Pacific Institute of Technology in the Audio Engineering Program. He’s in school full time evening and works a regular schedule as a carpenter. Dani has found a serving job, and they seem to have settled into a routine. We are looking forward to having them around for Christmas.
Last year both Linnaéa and Dani volunteered to teach youth hula and poi for the winter festival. They had so much fun that Linnaéa is continuing again this season.
I have managed to keep busy with forestry when we’re not busy with the lodge. The lodge was even busier this summer than 2007, but the fall and bookings for this winter reflect the economy. The newest thing for me this year is I that I’m learning to play bridge and as a result I have made some new friends.
Loren is learning to play the accordion. Last April, I bid on an older accordion at a silent action, and to my surprise I won the bid. Loren was so excited, he started lessons and joined an accordion group. He even played for WWOOFERS For never playing an instrument before, he is playing incredibly well. I am looking forward to him playing all the Christmas songs he knows.
This summer with the help of our willing workers, Loren started to build a two-story machine shed by the barn. The upper story will be a bunkhouse for our Woofers. Spring to fall this year we hosted 8 WWOOFERS from 4 different countries. It was great to have the help and learn about these travellers’ experiences. And it seemed that the help was all at the right time. Just when the garden needed planting and weeding, and when Loren needed help with haying and the machine shed.
We also had our friends daughter, Kim stay with us for over two weeks in the summer. And although she wasn’t a woofer, Kim was fun to have around and especially helpful with the horse.
In early October, my friend Dorothy and I travelled to Austria to visit our first WWOOFER Carla. It was a great holiday. We spent a couple of days in Vienna, then met Carla and her family in a tourist area in the Bavarian Mountains. Then we travelled to their home in St Martin’s near Klagenfurt am Wörthersee (South Austria in the mountains), where we stayed at the ‘Wankers’ Guest House not far from Carla’s place.
As I settle in, to do Christmas cards, the snow is falling and we already have about 30 cm of snow on the ground. It is definitely feeling like it’s time to slow down, brush the snow off of the sleigh and harness the horses for sleigh rides. What’s new here is Golden? Last night I attended the first orchestra concert ever performed in Golden. Golden is growing up.
Linnaéa is nursing here in Golden and also taking some shifts in Invermere. This summer she worked in Kelowna while taking a course she needs to be a registered nurse. But she isn’t ready to go back to school full time yet. And we are enjoying having her close by.
Andrew is at the Vancouver Pacific Institute of Technology in the Audio Engineering Program. He’s in school full time evening and works a regular schedule as a carpenter. Dani has found a serving job, and they seem to have settled into a routine. We are looking forward to having them around for Christmas.
Last year both Linnaéa and Dani volunteered to teach youth hula and poi for the winter festival. They had so much fun that Linnaéa is continuing again this season.
I have managed to keep busy with forestry when we’re not busy with the lodge. The lodge was even busier this summer than 2007, but the fall and bookings for this winter reflect the economy. The newest thing for me this year is I that I’m learning to play bridge and as a result I have made some new friends.
Loren is learning to play the accordion. Last April, I bid on an older accordion at a silent action, and to my surprise I won the bid. Loren was so excited, he started lessons and joined an accordion group. For never playing an instrument before, he is playing incredibly well. I am looking forward to him playing all the Christmas songs he knows.
This summer with the help of our willing workers, Loren started to build a two-story machine shed by the barn. The upper story will be a bunkhouse for our Woofers. Spring to fall this year we hosted 8 WWOOFERS from 4 different countries. It was great to have the help and learn about these travellers’ experiences. And it seemed that the help was all at the right time. Just when the garden needed planting and weeding, and when Loren needed help with haying and the machine shed.
We also had our friends daughter, Kim stay with us for over two weeks in the summer. And although she wasn’t a woofer, Kim was fun to have around and especially helpful with the horse.
In early October, my friend Dorothy and I travelled to Austria to visit our first WWOOFER Carla. It was a great holiday. We spent a couple of days in Vienna, then met Carla and her family in a tourist area in the Bavarian Mountains. Then we travelled to their home in St Martin’s near Klagenfurt am Wörthersee (South Austria in the mountains), where we stayed at the ‘Wankers’ Guest House not far from Carla’s place.

From Klagenfurt we were close enough to visit Italy one day and Slovinea another. We had such a great relaxing visit that it was hard for me to leave.
In late October Loren and I went to Las Vegas, with our group of friends from my highschool, to surprise the youngest friend on her 50th Birthday. Yes she was surprised to see us all there to help her celebrate. This time in Vegas we were a bit frivolous; doing all the things we hadn’t done when we had previously travelled south. We stayed at a fancy hotel, ate in restaurants, basked in the sun by the pool and Loren learnt how to lose money playing Black Jack. It was fun and a good transition into winter.
We look forward to hearing from everyone. We are only 2 km off the Trans-Canada Hwy. If you are ever passing this way, please stop in for a visit. We hope you all have a WONDERFUL HOLIDAY SEASON & ALL THE BEST IN THE NEW YEAR
Thank you to all of our Willing Workers. You know you are always welcome here.